Nelson Reed

Recent Comments "The Caste War of Yucatan"

BOOKS ABOUT YUCATÁN. Nelson Reed is a pioneer when it comes to studies of Yucatán's history, and this book about the decades-long Guerra de las Castas (War of the Castes) was for many years the standard text on the subject. Today there is a mini-cottage industry among academics who specialize it the region's history, but Reed can say with pride he was there first.This version of the book gets four stars from me because it doesn't have footnotes (something Reed corrected in the second edition, [...]

It definitely filled a gap in my knowledge. Aside from the Classic Mayan period, my general readings and documentary viewings on Mexican history to date had very limited coverage of the Yucatan peninsula. Nelson Reed resolved that with a very detailed look at the history this region of Mexico (plus Belize's role in the story). The main focus of the book is the clash of the Ladino and Mazehual worlds in the latter half of the 19th century, although it also provides a good preface of the two cultu [...]